New ensemble will spotlight Texas composers

The states’s composers will gain an advocate Saturday when the Texas New Music Ensemble debuts at Studio 101.

The concert caps off a year of groundwork by the group’s founder and artistic director, composer Chad Robinson. The program features instrumental works by Robinson; two other Houston composers, Marcus Karl Maroney and Pierre Jalbert; and Donald Grantham of Austin.

A Clear Lake native and 2008 University of Houston graduate, Robinson returned to the area in 2013 after earning a doctorate in composition from King’s College, London. The idea of founding a Texas-centered group came to him during his final year in England, he says, as he noticed that members of the British and European music scenes sometimes knew more about the state’s composers than people back home.

“I had a conversation with an Irish composer who was amazed when I told him that I didn’t think there was much focus on Texas composers within Texas,” Robinson says.

Robinson, who teaches music appreciation and other subjects at LoneStarCollege, began contacting musicians and lining up supporters last year. Though his first urge was to make a splashy debut, Robinson says, the group decided a gradual buildup would be wiser, so Saturday’s concert will feature six performers out of a pool of nine Robinson plans to use in later concerts.

Grantham’s “Fantasy on Mr. Hyde’s Song” will start the concert exuberantly, Robinson says. Maroney’s “Spur” is more meditative; Jalbert’s “Visual Abstract” covers a wide range of moods. Robinson’s works include “Darkbloom,” a solo-cello work that he says juxtaposes brooding and beauty.

Composing attracted Robinson’s interest when he studied at College of the Mainland in Texas City, which he attended before the University of Houston. As he considered a career in music, Robinson says, one of his professors put the idea in perspective.

“He said, ‘It’s crazy to do classical music as a living. If you can do anything else and be happy, you should probably do that other thing. Life will be easier,’” Robinson says.

“At some point I realized, yeah, I could do other work. But it would just be work, and my life would be what went on outside of that. But I didn’t want that. I wanted my life to be my work — even if it’s a little rough at times. … And I’ve had no regrets whatsoever.”